Improvement in india-rubber shoes



N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE..

CHRISTOPHER MEYER, OF NEW- BRUNSVICK, NEV JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN INDIA-RUBBER SHOES.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,730, dated March 19, 186i.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHRISTOPHER MEYER, of New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new of the same, reference being had to the ac.

companying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure lis a side view of a shoe constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan of the piece of cloth prepared for the indiarubber foxing andbinding. Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the inode of preparing the cloth to receive the foXing.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several iigures.

The object of my invention is to make a shoe of a neat appearance and durable character that can be worn either without another shoe or as an overshoe, and that while possessing all the advantage of an india-rubber shoe, so far as its sole and lower parts are considered, provides for the evaporation of the perspirationfrom the foot.

c. is the upper of the shoe, which is made of cloth or felt or other porous fabric.

l) is the outer sole of india-rubber.

c is the inner sole of cloth coa-ted with rubber on its underside.

(l is the foxing of india -rubber covering lower part of the upper to its junction with the sole, and c is a binder of india-rubber uniting with the foxing d at the back of the shoe.

In the manufacture of the shoe the cloth, felt, or other porous fabric a is prepared for lasting by having all that part of its outer surface that is to be covered by the foxing and binder and to be united with the sole covered with a thin coating of india-rubber, as shown in Fig. 3, where the uncovered portion of the cloth is tinted green and the portion that is covered with rubber tinted pink.

d d represents the portion which is to receive the foxing and to be turned in between the outer and inner soles, and e e the portion that is to receive the binder. The preparatory coating of india-rubber is applied by the combined agencies of pressure and heat, and is composed of rubber prepared for vulcanization. I propose generally to apply it by means of acalendering-machine having three rollers A B C, as shown in the diagram, Fig. 4, the lowest roller C having a projecting face f on its periphery corresponding in form with thesurface CZ d e e', to which the rubber is to be applied. The rollers A and B are perfectly cylindrical and smooth and adj usted to roll out the india-rubber in a very thin continuous sheet, While the cloth or felt in the piece is passed between the rollers B and C. The only portion of the roller C which exerts any pressure is the raised portion j',

and that portion (both rollers B and C being heated by steam) causes the adhesion of the rubber to the cloth or felt on all that portion on which it bears.

Instead of applying the preparatory coating of india-rubber to the cloth by the calender-rolls, it maybe applied by pressure between heated iiat Surfaces, the surface next the cloth having a similar projection to that I on the roller, that the india-rubber may only adhere where it is required. The cloth or felt thus prepared with rubber is cut out all round the outer margin of the rnbbercoated portion d cl c c', and is then ready for lasting.

In making up the shoe the inner sole c, of cloth coated on one side with india-rubber prepared for vulcanizing, is first applied to the last with the india-rubber outward. Then the cloth upper ca, prepared as above described, is put on and its edges lappedover the edges of the sole. The preparatory coat ing of rubber on the inner sole and on the upper a is represented in Fig. 2 tinted red. After the upper is applied the foxing cl and binding e, either in one piece or in separate pieces of sheet rubber prepared for vulcani- Zation, are put on, and then the outer sole. The rubber when applied is in a sufficiently adhesive condition to hold the several 'parts together while being vulcanized or cooked The shoe formed as above described is putin the oven and vulcanized, and this causes the fusion together of all the surfaces of the rubber that are in contact and causes the adhesion of the foxing and binding to the preparatory coating of rubber on the cloth orfelt.

Ido not claim, broadly, the combination of a brous upper with a rubber sole and foxing', as I am aware that A. L. Murdock, in 1853, contrived a shoe ot' that description, in which the fibrous portion was connected with the rubber portion in any proper manncrg7 but the article proposed to be made by liiin was necessarily cumbrous and clumsy in coinparison with that now proposed by ine, which is composed ot cloth or its equivalent cornbined with rubber in the manner proposed.

I am also aware that an elastic strap ot' rubber has been used in connection with a shoe made with a rubber sole and foXing and a i'ibrous upper; but in that case the strap was only attached to the foxing near the heel of the shoe and passed around the ankle Without being inany way attached t0 the fibrous upper, whereas in my shoe the rubber binding, like the forcing, is incorporated closely with the cloth in the manner described above,

and serves a Very different purpose from that of the loose strap, makinga much more neat, convenient, and mcrchantable article; but

That I do claim as new, and desire to secure be -Letters Patent, is K A new article of manufacture, consisting` of a shoe having,r a rubber sole and its upper CHRISTOPHER MEYER.

Witnesses:

JAS. C. EDMoNDs, .TosIAH FORD. 

